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Billion dollar Manganese Matthews Ridge investment…Company not relocating residents in mining area
Officials of Reunion Manganese Inc say contrary to rumors the Canadian
Geologist, Dr. Grantley Walrond shows what a sample of core magnesium looks like after it is unearthed by a diamond drill.
company exploring for manganese in the Matthews Ridge, Region One will not be relocating residents in the area and does not intend to deforest the area in order to carry out its operations.
On a media tour yesterday at the headquarters of Reunion Manganese Inc. Geologist, Dr. Grantley Walrond said that the company has spent over $1.7B since it was awarded the rights to the Matthews Ridge area in September 2010. Exploration activities began in October 2010.
Also at the site yesterday were Leader of the Opposition David Granger, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Parliamentarians and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud.
Dr. Walrond further noted that the company’s growth in production will be about 5.5 percent per year from 2011 to 2015 to meet demands.
Walrond said the Matthews Ridge manganese mine was operated from 1962-1968 by a subsidiary of Union Carbide.
He said at present, the mining company with the outlined target will put Guyana on the world map, while an aggressive exploration programme in 2011/12 will deliver resources and feasibility in order to produce in excess of 1.7 million tonnes of 37 percent Mn concentrate.
Underscoring that previous operations focused on high grade massive material and ignored lower grade material, Walrond said the site has benefited from infrastructure associated with previous operations.
Previous operation exported concentrate by rail from site to Port Kaituma and then by barge to Trinidad.
However, current exploration operations are sustained by barge from Georgetown to Port Kaituma and road to Matthews Ridge. He said that the prospect has significant exploration and technical upside, while potential value at current Manganese prices is in excess of $1.5B.
He explained that the primary use of manganese ore is in production of alloys for steel making, in addition to other uses in non-ferrous alloys and in dry cell batteries. Eighty per cent of the world resources are in South Africa.
Back in August last year, the company had announced that results from the completed trenching programme in March revealed continuous and thick high grade manganese mineralisation of over 2.5 km of strike, and, in June, further results revealed evidence of manganese mineralisation in over seven kilometres of strike. The company said then given the strong results of the programme, it was ready to initiate an aggressive 24,000 metre drilling programme comprising 220 holes with the objectives of confirming the historic mineral resources within the trenched zone and defining a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource by the end of 2011. The Matthews Ridge Project is located in northwest Guyana, in and around the former Matthews Ridge and Pipiani mines, 260 km northwest of Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana.
In late 2010, the company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Reunion Manganese Inc., obtained four exploration licences covering an area of 45,729 acres and embarked on an aggressive exploration program consisting of mechanized trenching, diamond drilling and ground geophysics with the objective to delineate a NI 43-101 compliant resource.
Manganese is the fourth largest metal consumed in the world, behind iron, aluminum and copper. It is a key component in steel and iron production with no viable substitute, and in short supply.
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